Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticle Graphene Nanocomposites Using Atmospheric Pressure Microplasma Assisted Electrochemistry

Graphene represents a new type of carbon materials and have attracted lot of attention is due to its exceptional physical and chemical properties. Recently experimental and theoretical studies have been shown that the composites of metal nanopaticles (NPs)/graphene can process superior electrocatalytic property, making them promising candidates for fuel cell electrodes. However, conventional approach to synthesis metal NPs/graphene composites usually involve time-consuming and laborious wet-chemistry-based methods. Here we present a facile synthesis metal NPs/graphene composites using a novel atmospheric-pressure microplasma-assisted electrochemistry. Microplasmas are defined as gaseous discharges formed in electrode geometries where at least one dimension is less than 1mm. Additionally, microplasmas can be operated with an aqueous solution as an electrode. Energetic species formed in the microplasma are capable of initiating electrochemical reactions and nucleating particles in solution without the need for a chemical reducing agent. In our experiments result, we found metal NPs can be synthesis in a minute time scale using atmospheric-pressure-microplasma-assisted electrochemistry, and we further extend this technology to synthesis metal NPs/graphene composites. As-produced samples were characterized by SEM, XRD, Raman and UV-Vis spectrocopy.